Congratulations Emily and Jeff

Tonight, we went to a wedding. It was a beautiful affair, but it paled in comparison to the bride. She was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen. Ok, she's the only bride I have ever seen, but I digress. The wedding was sweet and I did the best I could to behave and be quiet. Everytime I opened my mouth and said something, Mom shoved something to eat into my mouth. During the ceremony I consumed a package of fruit chewies, an entire banana and 6 or 7 animal crackers. As soon as Emily and Jeff got to the reception, they had their first dance. It was sweet, and they looked beautiful and happy. See for yourself.Next was the Father Daughter Dance. It started out tender and sweet. Mom and Granny both cried.

Then, all of a sudden, the music changed and Charlie and Emily broke out into a great dance! It got the party rockin' and was such a cute way to end a very tender moment. Who knew CP could groove like that?!

Next, the band started playing. Whooooeeeeee!!!! What a band. They were great and I could hardly take my eyes off of them. I think I might want to be in a band when I grow up, or at least learn how to dance like they were gettin' down tonight. Emily danced with me for a couple of minutes and then Jeff joined her on the dance floor. They were having fun, and I was mesmerized.

I really had a good time, and got to dance and hang out with my friend Kora. I see her sometimes when I am at the beauty shop with my Granny and she's a cutie! She dances about like I do, but she is sure cute gettin' down. I think we make a cute little duo, how 'bout you?

That's all for tonight. I've got to get some sleep so I can go again tomorrow. Congratulations again Emily and Jeff!

Dancing to His own Rhythm

Hey everybody! This is Jax's Mommy. We took this video tonight and I just had to share. After Jax was ready for bed, and while we were picking up his toys, we were watching last weeks recoding of America's Got Talent tonight and they had a special guest performance by a hip hop group. As soon as they started singing (rapping?), Jax climbed onto the coffee table and started getting down. I grabbed the camera and here is MY little boy dancing. Notice the emphasis on MY? That's because he's got my rhythm (or lack thereof). If you look closely towards the end, you can see his daddy's reflection in the mirror. He is moving to the beat. Jax and I just get down to the beat in our hearts! Enjoy!!

Busy as a Bee

What a summer it has been! Here are a few highlights to keep you in the loop. In early June, we went to the Zoo! Chattanooga has a small zoo with a few prize exhibits. Their big claim to fame is Hank the chimpanzee and some of his chimpanzee friends. I'm not sure which one this is, but he was friendly. When I knocked on the window, he tapped back. He also made faces and screeched a little bit. That was kind of scary, but Mom and Dad screeched back and made me laugh, so it was ok. This is one of the white parrots at the Chattanooga Zoo. It didn't do much, but right after Mommy took this picture, it climbed into the corner of the cage and started making some noise that sounded like it was saying "HELP". It was really funny.

Here's me and Daddy checking out a peacock. We didn't get to see it in "all it's glory" as Mom says, but there were several of them and they just wander all over the place. One climbed out of the bird area and crossed the sidewalk right in front of us. Boy, let me tell you, peacock's are LOUD! They make this long call that sounds like "CAW". In case you were wondering, I have perfected this sound and do it on command. (It's so cute I'm going to use it the next time I'm in trouble to get me out of it!)

Aunt Audi's friend Grace came for a visit from Ohio. She has three little kids, Lucy, Roxy and Barrett. We went to Chuck E. Cheese and I spent almost the entire evening on this Bob the Builder bulldozer. I could care less about Bob the Builder, but I loved his 'dozer. I pretty much love anything that is related to construction equipment. Dump trucks are my favorite!One rainy Saturday, we were headed to church for something. As we turned in the parking lot, Mom spied a turtle trying to cross the road. When she was a little girl, Granny used to perform "Turtle Rescues" She would stop and move the turtle across the road in the direction it was headed or take it to the farm to let it go. So, Mom decided to carry on the tradition and we had our first turtle rescue! Mom picked it up and held it out the window as she drove up to the church. Then we got out on the sidewalk and checked it out. Mom said it has legs that come out of it's shell, but we only saw it's head. Then we tucked it into some really tall grass on the undeveloped part of the property and when we came out, it had gone on it's merry way. Gracie, or GG as I like to call her, turned 11 in June. She broke her foot right before school was out and had to have surgery, so she was in a cast and couldn't have a big party. We had a small family get together and went to the Station House at the Chattanooga Choo Choo for dinner. There is a live band and the waiters and waitresses take turns singing. It was really cool, loud but cool. they sang a special song to GG since it was her birthday, and there was cake! I go a little restless, as I am prone to do now days, so Daddy took me outside. I loved climbing on the train and pretending to drive. Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!

Inside the train, I was the perfect little engineer. I had so much fun pushing on things and pulling on levers acting like I was driving that big ole train....it was awesome.

GG also hit another milestone this year. She graduated from St. Nicholas and is now a middle school student. Mommy and Daddy keep saying how fast time flies and that she should still be a little girl calling him Dense and holding her arms up to Mommy saying "I want to hold you". Now she's a tall, beautiful young lady who has her own style and interests and will be driving before you know it. Congratulations GG, we are proud of you and we love you!

I caught my first lightening bug this year. Dad taught me how to look for them and we caught on in a jar. We took it out on the screen porch and looked at it for a long time. Then it flew out and into the kitchen before we could catch it. Mommy told Daddy to catch it again or perform a "service". (edited by mommy to say "service" is code for funeral at our house).

This is how you look for bugs...you squat down and look from side to side. Now I do it every time I get out of the car.

My favorite hat of the summer. It's a duck hat that Mom bought me to wear back at Easter, but if you turn it around, it looks a lot like a hard hat. Either way, it's my fave, and is never far away!

Splish Splash! I love the pool. I'm a regular fish.

I'm not afraid of anything, even going down the slide. It takes a village though, Daddy helps me up, Granny or Granddaddy or Audi and Bubba spot me on the way down and Mommy catches me at the bottom. Sometimes she lets me go under, sometimes she doesn't. I'm learning that it's ok to go under...just don't try to breathe while you're down there. Cough, Cough, Choke, Snort, Whoooo.

We didn't have big plans for the 4th, we got to go to two different fireworks, and they scared me a little. I decided it was ok as long as I was with Daddy or Granddaddy. This was just before the first round started and I had no idea what was coming. It was exciting!

During the week of the fourth, we spent a lot of time at Nanny's house. She got a new roof and that opened up several smaller projects that needed to be done. So, Granddaddy, Granny, Gingle and Steve spent countless hours at her house painting and doing general repair type stuff. Of course, I was needed to supervise, and just like any good supervisor I took my recreational equipment. Heaven knows I wasn't going to work. From this vantage point in the front yard, I could easily oversee all the projects going on in the carport.

I did take a break from lounging to clean up my truck. You have no idea what serious business it is to clean a dump truck. I gave it all I had!

Check out that belly! It is FULL of water. I usually have a very svelte figure...my pants won't stay up without a belt. I do love to drink out of the water hose! Sometimes, though, it squirts up over my head and just about drowns me. I don't know why my Mommy thinks it is so funny to see me blinking and snorting, but she gets a real kick out of it.

And then there's the story of the lizard. See it in my jar? Well, settle in for a knee slapper. One night, Mommy and Daddy and I were outside on the screen porch playing on my climbing house. Daddy was moving some things around and picking up the pillows I had thrown on the floor so he could open the door onto the deck. All of a sudden, something ran out from under the cushion on the chaise lounge. It was too big to be a bug! Mommy didn't scream, but she sure did scoop me up and take me inside. Well, she told Granny about it and the next day, when Granny came to get me, we went out there to look for the critter. Turns out there was a lizard enjoying Mom's chaise lounge. It ran up on the arm of the chaise and Granny told me to watch it. I stood right there so it didn't get away while Granny got a jar. She chased it down, pinned it with the broom and caught it in this jar. It was kind of green with a blue tail. I was terribly excited, and shook it really good in that jar so that I could see it from every angle. Granny and Mommy decided it didn't like being shaken because it just laid there on it's back not moving. So we took it out into the shady part of the yard and dumped it out. Then off we went on another adventure.

*edited by Mommy to say that services were performed that evening for said lizard. In the future, the lid on the jar will have holes and shaking will be kept to a minimum. Who knew lizards were so dainty?

I think that's all for now. As soon as Mommy gets the pictures off her camera, I will tell you all about our trip to the Creative Discovery Museum. There is a Curious George exhibit here for the summer and I love me some Curious George. I'm debating now....A Curious George birthday party or an Elmo birthday party. Big decisions ahead. I'll keep you posted.

Love ya!

Jax